Online poker and gaming operator The Stars Group has reported a 34.8% increase in consolidated revenue to US$411.5 million for the three months to 30 June 2018, boosted by its recent push into the Australian sports betting scene via the acquisitions of CrownBet Holdings Pty Limited and William Hill Australia Holdings Pty Ltd.
Gross profit for the period grew 29.8% year-on-year to US$327.9 million while Adjusted EBITDA grew 14.8% to US$168.3 million.
Discussing the results, The Stars Group CEO Rafi Ashkenazi said they “reflect both continued organic growth within our international business and the contributions of our Australian acquisitions.
“We continued enhancing our products and user experience across all verticals and executing on our cross-selling strategy. The continued emergence of our sports betting and casino offerings and the addition of our 2018 acquisitions have transformed our business and greatly enhanced the foundation and diversity of our consolidated revenue base, which will now be nearly equally split among verticals and roughly 75% locally regulated or taxed.”
The Stars Group acquired an 80% stake in CrownBet Holdings in April through which it subsequently purchased William Hill Australia Holdings – positioning itself as a clear number three in Australia’s highly competitive online sports betting landscape behind Tabcorp and Sportsbet.
The company has since also acquired the UK’s Sky Betting & Gaming (SBG).
Despite its increased presence in the sports betting space, The Stars Group – owner of PokerStars – still generated 52.7% of its revenue through online poker, with 24.8% from gaming and 19.7% from betting. Betting revenue for the quarter was US$19.6 million, an increase of 122.2% year-on-year.